The Gradual Evolution Of File Sharing Tools: A More Anonymous BitTorrent
from the gee,-was-this-hard-to-predict? dept
Just about everyone outside of the recording industry seemed to know this would happen, but apparently the folks at the recording industry are still a bit slow in having their pattern matching mental algorithms kick in. They shut down Napster because it was centralized and more decentralized apps showed up. They go after users of those systems, and newer, more anonymous systems show up. For every file sharing system they try to shut down, a more secure, more secretive one shows up, pushing file sharers further underground. So, with the entertainment industry's bizarre new obsession with BitTorrent, is it really any surprise that people are working on more anonymous versions of the technology? Who knows if this particular system will catch on, but clearly every move the entertainment industry makes is just causing things to get worse, pushing users further underground, rather than opening them up to more legitimate forms of content distribution. It seems clear now that the entertainment industry can't think more than one step ahead, and has yet to consider the reaction to any of its moves.
Thank you for reading this Techdirt post. With so many things competing for everyone’s attention these days, we really appreciate you giving us your time. We work hard every day to put quality content out there for our community.
Techdirt is one of the few remaining truly independent media outlets. We do not have a giant corporation behind us, and we rely heavily on our community to support us, in an age when advertisers are increasingly uninterested in sponsoring small, independent sites — especially a site like ours that is unwilling to pull punches in its reporting and analysis.
While other websites have resorted to paywalls, registration requirements, and increasingly annoying/intrusive advertising, we have always kept Techdirt open and available to anyone. But in order to continue doing so, we need your support. We offer a variety of ways for our readers to support us, from direct donations to special subscriptions and cool merchandise — and every little bit helps. Thank you.
–The Techdirt Team
